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Tesla's Elon Musk Reminds Media His Cars Can Spy On Them

As noted by my colleague Joann Muller, electric car maker Tesla is experiencing some road rage over a review in the New York Times that faulted its model S’s performance in cold weather. Reports Muller:

In a series of tweets and then in a phone call to CNBC, [CEO Elon] Musk blasted reporter John Broder’s damaging review of the plug-in sedan in last Friday’s New York Times, saying the car died because the reporter didn’t follow the company’s test-drive instructions. And Musk claims he has proof: “Vehicle logs tell true story that he didn’t actually charge to max & took a long detour,” according to one tweet. Musk told CNBC that Broder took “an extended tour through Manhattan” and at times drove “10 miles or above the speed limit.”

The most interesting tweet to me was the one captured above, where Musk refers to Tesla’s ability to monitor everything that a driver does in one of its cars — at least when it comes to the car’s operation. “Tesla data logging is only turned on with explicit written permission from customers,” tweeted Musk. “But after Top Gear BS, we always keep it on for media.”

(“Top Gear BS” refers to a 2008 BBC review of a Tesla car that the company also disputed and eventually sued over.)

Thanks to more and more of our belongings being “smart” — or “tethered” as Jonathan Zittrain calls them — they’re constantly capturing data about us and in some cases reporting back to the companies that made them how we’re using them. It means your car might keep a log of how you drove it or that your Xbox might be tracking every person in the room and watching their facial expressions to decide which ads to show them.

Tesla says it always asks for customers’ permission before doing this –even if that’s not made clear in the owner’s manual — but journalists taking a car for a free spin don’t get that same courtesy. While journos are recording their impression of the car’s performance, it’s doing the same thing to them.

Tesla says it’s planning a blog post about the Times piece for Tuesday or Wednesday but would not say whether it will include the log of Broder’s drive.

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I can’t believe that is your problem? How about Broder misrepresenting the facts? After what happened with Top Gear, I see no reason to why Tesla won’t monitor their cars. Lets be honest here, there is a long list of big companies out there who don’t want Tesla to succeed.

Also, if you are going to review a car, I would want it to be logged so the viewer can see the facts in front of him instead of whatever lies the editor might pull to satisfy either him or someone else.

I would think the consent comes with the signing of the contract when a reviewer takes the car out. “Spying” is true only if the contract doesn’t stipulate that and according to Tesla, logging is on for customers only if they request it (is on by default only for media).

I find it easy to believe that Top Gear sensationalized/skewed its review for entertainment purposes.

I find it difficult to believe a NY times reporter did the same. Even if he didn’t “charge it to max” and drove above the speed limit, doesn’t that merely reveal how a normal driver might use the car and what he might experience in doing so? Isn’t that a reporter’s job? What the hell is Musk’s point?

Time to stand behind the product already and not behind Twitter.

And as for privacy behind the wheel, we don’t need to give the car manufacturers permission. Only a matter of time before the government mandates data-logging equipment and periodically mails us speeding tickets.

One thing that the reviewer did not consider was that this was not an emulation of an “everyday user” who doesn’t charge to the max. This was an endurance test of the vehicle’s limits and he was given specific instruction to follow, which he ignored. The route he was suppose to cover was close to the vehicle’s maximum range. Motor Trends also did such a test and they managed to travel over 200 miles from LA to Vegas (not in cold weather though). They were much more careful with the battery conservation. They stayed under the speed limit, didn’t take any detours, and even turned off their air conditioning and radio to conserve battery power. The problem here is we don’t know how truthful the reporter was in his review. I would wait until the updates from Tesla before making a final verdict.

A report in the NY times is not a publication in a scientific journal. There does not have to be variables and controls. Perhaps the reporter didn’t follow the EXACT instructions Tesla gave him, but he still used the car as any number of consumers would and found flaws.

Obviously Tesla wants everything to be absolutely perfect for its reviews. Every car company wants that. When high-performance track testing, all the car companies want their test vehicles fitted with sport suspension, wheels, and tires, but they usually would not want the same setup for testing on bumpy roads in every day traffic.

When testing the life of a battery, Tesla wants the battery at full charge and the car to be driven under the posted speed limits. But that’s not reasonable or the norm. So what we actually got was probably a realistic glimpse of what life in a Tesla is all about.

Whoever buys a $120k+ sports cars to travel like a Sunday grandmother at the speed limit is a disgrace.

Hi Mike, I use a Tesla Roadster on a daily basis, and even if it’s autonomy is more than 30% less than the Model S, it is absolutely perfect for a daily use for 98% of the people. Of course, you wish to travel 200 miles or more you will have to take very special care with a Tesla in the way you drive if you intend to reach your destination, but what percentage of all the people in the world who take their car on a daily basis drive moire than 200 or 300 miles a day??!! So the reporter did not use the car as any number of consumers would on a regular basis, but only for a long travel. In that case, it is absolutely true that the Electric Vehicle still relies on Fast Charging points that do not exist today and that travel has to be considered in a totally different way than with a Petrol Car. But do you travel 300 miles everyday? Apart from that, the Tesla is a great car, with performances greater than plenty of other cars more expensive to buy, and to use on a daily basis of course, even if you do not drive like a Sunday Grandmother at the speed limit ;-) I think it is important to support initiatives made like the Tesla Company to find an alternative to Petrol Cars, because it will not last forever.